# Mis-Heard Song Lyrics **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [September 10, 2002, 6:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mis-heard-song-lyrics/127831 "2002-09-10T18:51:04Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![DirkGntly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d9b06d/32.png) [@DirkGntly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DirkGntly)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2002, 6:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mis-heard-song-lyrics/127831/1 "2002-09-10T18:51:04Z")
Am I the only one so afflicted? Who else out there hears the wrong song lyrics, then years later, hears the correct ones and goes: :smack: My example: When I was a young child I had an album (yes, LP…vinyl…that black disk with funny grooves) of the Archies. One of the songs was “S.K.O.O.B.Y. D.O.O.” The lyrics I heard were: “Picnic in the grass, diggin’ Mamma’s ass with Skooby Doo” :eek: I can remember, being a young child, that I couldn’t believe they were allowing lyrics like that in a song! It probably didn’t help that the lyrics were being played on an old monaural portable record player. Of course, I was also too young to know who Mamma Cass (Elliott) was…which, naturally, is what the lyrics really were…(“Picnic in the grass, diggin’ Mamma Cass with Skooby Doo”) So, any other takers out there in Dopedom? What other examples can someone cite out there? - Dirk ---
**Author:** ![scout1222](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/34f0e0/32.png) [@scout1222](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scout1222)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2002, 8:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mis-heard-song-lyrics/127831/2 "2002-09-10T20:31:41Z")
Interestingly enough, last night I received my SDMB White Elephant (yay!) and in it was the sequel book to “'Scuse Me While I Kiss This Guy”. It’s a book filled with these things. I was chuckling at some of the mishearings, not many of which I can remember right now. I’ll have to bring the book in tomorrow and post some of the weirder ones. The one I do remember (because I’d thought the same thing) was _“…silence like a casserole…”_ from The Sound of Silence. The proper lyric is, of course, “…science like a cancer grows…” ---
**Author:** ![crazy4chaucer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/b5e925/32.png) [@crazy4chaucer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/crazy4chaucer)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2002, 8:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mis-heard-song-lyrics/127831/3 "2002-09-10T20:38:17Z")
My most memorable one was Lucille, by Kenny Rogers. “You picked a fine time to leave me, Lucille, With four hundred children And this time they’re eating oatmeal.” ---
**Author:** ![buckgully](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/eb9ed0/32.png) [@buckgully](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/buckgully)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2002, 9:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mis-heard-song-lyrics/127831/4 "2002-09-10T21:07:21Z")
I had a girlfriend who thought the lyrics to the chorus of Steve Miller Band’s “Jet Airliner” were “Big ol’ Jed & Delilah”. I just did a search on that, and found this page: > **[Misheard Lyrics](http://www.amiright.com/misheard/artist/millersteve.shtml)** > > Misheard Song Lyrics, performed by Steve Miller. Misheard song lyrics (also known as mondegreens) are instances of when a song lyric can't be understood, and the mind substitues a new word for you. According to which, that particular line is misunderstood quite a bit. There’s a ton more of this type of stuff on that site. ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2002, 9:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mis-heard-song-lyrics/127831/5 "2002-09-10T21:16:51Z")
In the middle of the Pogues’ ballad, “The Broad, Majestic Shannon,” Shane MacGowan describes going down to the sea with his girl to “watch the robots landing.” I was kinda disappointed when I found out he was actually saying “rowboats.” ---
**Author:** ![Morbo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/morbo/32/389_2.png) [@Morbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morbo)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2002, 9:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mis-heard-song-lyrics/127831/6 "2002-09-10T21:19:07Z")
Not sure if this is related to the book **scout1222** mentions, but the website [http://www.kissthisguy.com](http://www.kissthisguy.com) also has some good ones. My wife thought the Prodigy song “Smack My Bitch Up” was actually called “Snap my Picture”. So now every time it comes on we mime a camera taking a picture. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Fingolfin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/eada6e/32.png) [@Fingolfin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fingolfin)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2002, 9:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mis-heard-song-lyrics/127831/7 "2002-09-10T21:24:35Z")
**The Beach Boys 'Help Me Rhonda’** Mis-heard lyric: “Since you put me down, there’s been owls puking in my bed.” :eek: LOL! Real lyric: “Since she put me down, I been all through it in my head.” **Peter Gabriel 'Games Without Frontiers’** Mis-heard lyric: “She’s so popular” Real lyric: “Jeux sans frontieres” **The Eagles 'Take It Easy’** Mis-heard lyric: “I’m looking for a lover who won’t blow my brother” :eek: LOL! Real lyric: “I’m looking for a lover who won’t blow my cover” Also, any Pre-1989 REM song has a ton of mis-heard lyrics. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![New\_Improved\_Scott](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/f17d59/32.png) [@New\_Improved\_Scott](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/New_Improved_Scott)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2002, 9:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mis-heard-song-lyrics/127831/8 "2002-09-10T21:45:46Z")
You can take a look at this site [http://www.kissthisguy.com](http://www.kissthisguy.com) for an archive of mis-heard lyrics and more stories of the like. ---
**Author:** ![Monstre](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e274bd/32.png) [@Monstre](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Monstre)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2002, 11:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mis-heard-song-lyrics/127831/9 "2002-09-10T23:47:33Z")
A girl I knew in college thought Stevie Nicks was singing: “Just like a park ranger!” (Correct version, of course - “Just like a white-winged dove”) ---
**Author:** ![Labdad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/439d5e/32.png) [@Labdad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Labdad)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2002, 11:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mis-heard-song-lyrics/127831/10 "2002-09-10T23:57:19Z")
It was a good five years before I realized that the lyric in **Groovin’** by the Rascals wasn’t “life could be ecstasy/you and me and Leslie.” I always wondered, who the hell is Leslie? Her kid?? Of course, the lyric is “you and me endlessly.” :smack: Haven’t checked [http://www.kissthisguy.com](http://www.kissthisguy.com), but I’m sure it’s in there. ---
**Author:** ![bobkitty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/c67d28/32.png) [@bobkitty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bobkitty)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2002, 12:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mis-heard-song-lyrics/127831/11 "2002-09-11T00:17:08Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Monstre \* > \*\*A girl I knew in college thought Stevie Nicks was singing: > > “Just like a park ranger!” > > (Correct version, of course - “Just like a white-winged dove”) \*\* My mom had a hilarious mistranslation of that song… I wish I could remember all of it, but it started with “Just like a wide window…” The next line in the song is actually something like “Sings a song, sounds like she’s singin’ oooh, oooh, oooh…” but mom’s chorus just kept talking about that window… I’ll have to give her a call. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![LifeOnWry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/96bed5/32.png) [@LifeOnWry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LifeOnWry)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2002, 12:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mis-heard-song-lyrics/127831/12 "2002-09-11T00:35:26Z")
My sister heard “Looks like tomatoes…” when Barry Manilow was really singing “Looks like we made it…” And I have a friend who was absolutely certain that the Clash was singing “F\*\*king the asphalt…” when they were really singing, “Rocking the casbah…” ---
**Author:** ![SolGrundy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bbce88/32.png) [@SolGrundy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SolGrundy)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2002, 12:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mis-heard-song-lyrics/127831/13 "2002-09-11T00:42:28Z")
The most memorable one was when I was riding with a friend playing a game where we’d try to be the first to identify the next song playing on the radio. A Billy Joel song came on, we both got that it was Billy Joel, but neither could remember the title. Finally, my friend said, “Oh I know! It’s _She’s a Wazy Woman_!” After I explained the correct title and she’d pulled over the car so she could stop laughing, I asked just what a “wazy” woman was, anyway. “I don’t know; I just thought it was one of those song things.” ---
**Author:** ![Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qadgop_the_mercotan/32/83_2.png) [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2002, 1:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mis-heard-song-lyrics/127831/14 "2002-09-11T01:07:47Z")
I really misheard this one for over a decade: **Beatles** :_Take the back right turn_ instead of “Paperback Writer”. ---
**Author:** ![Genseric](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Genseric](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Genseric)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2002, 1:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mis-heard-song-lyrics/127831/15 "2002-09-11T01:58:42Z")
I had a couple of good ones here and there. Creedence Clearwater Revival - Lodi Actual lyric : “Oh Lord! I’m stuck in Lodi again.” My friends and I coudn’t quite figure that one out. We finally decided it was one of the following. “Oh Lord! Stalkin’ an old guy again.” or “Oh Lord! Suckin’ an old tire again.” Another classic is from Led Zeppelin’s Battle of Evermore Actual lyric: “Ride a white mare in the footsteps of dawn” What it sounds like: “Ride a white man on the footsteps of doom” Another Zep one from What Is And What Should Never Be Actual lyric: “Everybody I know seems to know me well, But does anybody know I’m gonna move like hell?” I knew actual lyric, but once read the following in a transcription: “Everybody I know seems to know me well, but they say I better move, I’m gonna moonlight flit.” No freakin’ way it says that. ---
**Author:** ![Genseric](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Genseric](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Genseric)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2002, 2:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mis-heard-song-lyrics/127831/16 "2002-09-11T02:14:14Z")
Oops, I meant Led Zeppelin’s Going to California, not Battle of Evermore. Pshaw! And I call myself a Led Zeppelin fan. It’s back to the self-flagellation, for me. ---
**Author:** ![Deadly\_Nightlight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Deadly\_Nightlight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Deadly_Nightlight)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2002, 6:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mis-heard-song-lyrics/127831/17 "2002-09-11T06:30:21Z")
Kiss from a rose on the grey by Seal I jack this whole song up but the one that sticks out in my mind is She’s like a dictionary I can’t deny but they lyrics are She’s a growing addiction that I can’t deny ---
**Author:** ![Fingolfin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/eada6e/32.png) [@Fingolfin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fingolfin)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2002, 2:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mis-heard-song-lyrics/127831/18 "2002-09-11T14:12:53Z")
A mis-heard lyric that embarassed the hell out of me was the chorus to **Collective Soul’s** ‘She Said’. I thought it went like this: “You like shrimp or chow rice? She said” Well the real lyric is: “Life’s river shall rise, she said” So one day driving in the car with my wife and I start singing this song out loud. My wife looks at me and says, “What the hell are you singing?” “You like shrimp or chow rice? She said” I said. My wife bursts out laughing and corrects me on the lyric. She told all her friends and family about it. God it was awful. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![gex\_gex](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/94ad74/32.png) [@gex\_gex](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gex_gex)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2002, 2:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mis-heard-song-lyrics/127831/19 "2002-09-11T14:53:09Z")
I only recently discovered that The Strokes, in their song _New York City Cops_ are not singing “New York City cops/ and Agent Smart.” (It’s actually “New York City cops/ They ain’t too smart”) This bemused the hell out of me. “What does Maxwell Smart have to do with New York City cops?” I thought. “And why would it be so offensive that they’d have to take the song off the album in America post-9/11?” Also, there is a Go-Go’s song which is famously misheard. They claim that it’s called _Our Lips Are Sealed_, but everyone knows that it is really called _Alice the Seal_. Anyway, at work one day this song came on, and I mis-heard this mis-hearing as “Alisdair Seal”. And finally, although I know the correct lyric, whenever I hear Pearl Jam’s _I Got ID_, I am convinced Eddier Vedder sings “I’ve got mammaries/ I’ve got shit,” rather than the less bosomy “I’ve got memories…” ---
**Author:** ![scout1222](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/34f0e0/32.png) [@scout1222](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scout1222)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2002, 3:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mis-heard-song-lyrics/127831/20 "2002-09-11T15:00:48Z")
All right, this one is from _He’s Got the Whole World In His Pants_, which is the book I referred to above (the kiss the sky guy): Whitney Houston’s _Saving All My Love For You_ “Shaving off my muff for you” :eek: Yeah, right. Tell me that somebody REALLY thought that’s what she was saying…I don’t buy that one! [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mis-heard-song-lyrics/127831.md?page=2)